This night will still go down in Portsmouth legend and when the tale is told there should be glowing pride to accompany the rueful looks. The team, after all, not only led until stoppage time in this Uefa Cup group fixture but deserved to do so. It was, indeed, their achievement to provoke Milan into the fine play with which they redeemed themselves after being 2-0 down.

Six minutes from the end the substitute Ronaldinho converted a superb free-kick, dubiously awarded though it had been. Portsmouth still looked capable of protecting the reduced lead. Filippo Inzaghi, who had clipped the woodwork on three occasions, needed to be devastatingly accurate in the second of the three minutes of added time to dash those hopes. He tamed a Gianluca Zambrotta cross with an exquisite touch and directed a finish low past David James.

In driving themselves to a remarkable performance for much of the night Portsmouth ultimately called forth the best from a club that has had seven European Cup triumphs. Tony Adams' side achieved all that despite having only six substitutes instead of the seven allowed. Moreover, the manager was without some of his most influential footballers because of the injuries to Sol Campbell, Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe.

This fixture may have seemed beyond the imaginings of Portsmouth fans, yet the truth is that all supporters dream of occasions of this distinction. For all their volume, they might have fallen mute if they had paused to consider the sheer improbability of the events taking place.

Nwankwo Kanu, for instance, was making his first start of the season, yet he was still going strongly enough to touch in Portsmouth's second in the 73rd minute. His provider was the excellent full-back Glen Johnson, who had also been the key to the opener after 62 minutes. A free-kick from the right was not cleared properly and Kanu recovered possession before finding Johnson. The full-back's delivery was pinpoint accurate and Kaboul leapt to head past Dida.

It is those incidents, along with other incisive episodes, that will hearten the manager Tony Adams. "It was a really great display," he said. "I'm very proud of them. They are a little bit disappointed but I am not."

Carlo Ancelotti, the Milan coach, made no bones about the alarm the opposition had caused, particularly after the interval. This was not exactly his ideal line-up but well-known names such as Kaka did participate from the start. Andriy Shevchenko was also among them but Ancelotti had to fend off critical comments from the Italian press about his showing.

Back in England and experiencing scorn, Shevchenko must have felt as if he was still at Chelsea. Milan, to take a practical view, have seven points in the group. Portsmouth, already beaten in Braga, risk not being among the three clubs who qualify. Of course, this game, with its glamorous visitors, was not really about anything so prosaic.

It is the essence of Portsmouth to compete strongly with better-equipped rivals. The side indeed is adept enough at that task to be holders of the FA Cup. Having come up with a victory away to Manchester United in the quarter-finals in that competition, there was no dread about meeting Milan at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth had an endearing emphasis on old-fashioned width, with crosses aimed as often as possible for Kanu and Peter Crouch. There was, all the same, far more expectation than fulfilment before the interval. When Crouch, for instance, looked as if he might head a delivery from Johnson down to Kanu in the goalmouth, the trajectory of the ball, skidding off a wet surface, meant that he could not connect properly.

While Milan did come closer it was not because of the wiles of virtuosos. Inzaghi's first opportunity, in the ninth minute, came to him because Shevchenko's free-kick had broken off the defensive wall and the forward then dragged his finish against the far post.

It was not a cunning cameo that lay at the heart of a Milan opening after 26 minutes. Gennaro Gattuso's through- pass reached Inzaghi with the aid of adeflection from the centre-half Kaboul. The striker grazed the bar with his shot.

Despite all the speculation beforehand about how Milan might feel claustrophobic in Fratton Park's diminutive dressing rooms, those are not the club's real anxieties. They won the most recent of their seven European Cups, in 2007, with an elderly line-up and they are now attempting to revitalise themselves. Milan did recover here, but purely in a fashion that underlined how more progress is needed under Ancelotti.